“The Siege” is a cautionary tale about terrorism in New York. It asks a question of the audience which has been posed in recent years: What is the direction we should take in response to terrorist activities in our own country?

Before the bombing of the World Trade Center, the idea of terrorist activity in the United States was merely a notion for writers like Tom Clancy to play with in unlikely political dramas. Now we even have homegrown terrorists spreading paranoia in the land of the free.

“The Siege” takes three different characters, each with their own agendas, and uses them to moralize about what would happen if the problem increased and Americans allowed fear to make the unthinkable a reality.

Denzel Washington plays Anthony “Hub” Hubbard, an FBI agent in charge of the anti-terrorism task force in New York City. He is the one we are meant to identify with most closely, and Washington turns in a typically compelling performance.

Tony Shalhoub (“Big Night,” “Men in Black,” “Wings”) plays Frank Haddad, a Palestinian-American member of Hub’s task force. Shalhoub gives one of the better performances in the film.

His role is the most complex, and if the film lacks anything it is screen time with this character, whose son is later confined to a detention center. The scenes in the detention center were meant to remind us of the Japanese detainment camps in the United States during World War II.

Bruce Willis plays General William Devereaux, the man assigned the job of maintaining order in New York City during the imposition of martial law.

He seems reluctant at first, but he carries out his task with brutal efficiency. He represents a certain faction of the United States which would argue that constitutional freedoms are meaningless while the populace lives in fear.

Devereaux and Hub are the primary combatants in the film, and it is around them that most the constitutional debates take place.

Annette Bening plays Sharon Bridger, a CIA operative with ties to the Arab community and questionable affiliations with a terrorist leader. She seems to know more than she is willing to let on.

As Devereaux’s troops take over Brooklyn, Hub and Bridger try to find the terrorist cell which is operating in New York before the situation gets any worse. At one point, a heated debate takes place between Hub and Devereaux that says by shredding the Constitution and the rights it guarantees, we have already lost.

The film is filled with intensely patriotic images, which allow for a variety of interpretations. During some scenes, one is almost convinced of the necessity for martial law as a busload of people is destroyed for the purposes of drawing attention to an issue that most Americans are hardly even aware of or concerned with.

As the effects of martial law are witnessed, the audience is led to be more concerned with the fundamental nature of our democracy.

But the movie offers much more than legal debates. “The Siege” is a surprisingly intelligent film with enough shooting, chase scenes and exploding busses to satisfy the most ardent “Die Hard” fan.

The film’s story seemed plausible and the performances were convincing. Willis was not overused, and Bening seemed to be a bit lacking in dimensions, but overall, “The Siege” has something for everyone but those looking for romance on the screen.

4 stars out of five

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Greg Jerrett is a graduate student in English from Council Bluffs.